Infamous and Intriguing Kentucky Sagas

[se7ens]

Currently the Hubers trial up in NKY is whipping up some national intention based on some of the details surrounding the case (semi-attractive woman in her young twenties, multiple gun shots, suburban setting, etc...). There have been some great weird and intriguing sagas in NKY and Kentucky as a whole. I was hoping we could all share the ones we know.

 

Mine would definitely be the Erpenbeck Saga and the buried money on the golf course.

[2 Humped Camel]

The Bob Bosely murder here in Campbell County was pretty crazy.

[Jim Schue]

John Rowan, owner of the famed Federal Hill Mansion in Bardstown — aka My Old Kentucky Home — was a jurist and legislator in the 19th century who killed local doctor James Chambers in a duel near the Beech Fork River just outside of town.

 

Ky 245, which goes from Bardstown to Bernheim Forest and I-65, is named John Rowan Blvd. It intersects with Chambers Blvd. on the western end of town in a commercial area.

[Jumper_Dad]

The story detailed in the book, "A Dark and Bloody Ground"

From Publishers Weekly

In his account of a 10-year crime spree in Eastern Kentucky, University of Tulsa English professor O'Brien ( Murder in Little Egypt ) focuses on chronic criminal Benny Hodge and his wife Sherry, who met when she was a guard in Brushy Mountain State Prison in rural Morgan County where he was incarcerated. Sherry seduced him and, after he was paroled, the two began living together, supporting themselves by ripping off small-time drug dealers. After forming a gang, their crimes escalated until they entered the home of Dr. Roscoe Acker in 1985, murdering his daughter, almost killing Dr. Acker, and seizing a cache of $1.9 million before fleeing to Florida. Tangential to their story is that of flamboyant Kentucky lawyer Lester Burns, who took on the defense for $400,000, despite the source of the money. One gang member, Donald Bartley, turned state's evidence; Benny and Roger Epperson were sentenced to death; Sherry and Carol Epperson received prison sentences, as did lawyer Burns, for knowingly accepting stolen money. This is an arresting look into the troubled psyches of these criminals and into the depressed Kentucky economy that became fertile territory for narcotics dealers, theft rings and bootleggers.

 

A friend of mine from high school's dad was a lawyer on this deal and the main lawyer was a local legend when this all went down.

[B-Ball-fan]

The Donald Harvey Case...The serial killer nurse who claimed to have killed 87 people. His crimes were committed in both Ohio, and Kentucky.

 

Donald Harvey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jumper_Dad]

The Pulaski County Sheriff was assassinated by a sniper in front of a hundred or so people back in 2002. I think everyone in this county knows where they were when they got the news that night. He was in his third term and running for re-election. A former Deputy that had been fired was running against him for sheriff was arrested as an accomplice along with his political backer a local drug dealer. The shooter was a former high school basketball player that was put up to it by the drug dealer and former deputy.

 

I actually had a very very small part in the investigation.

[Jumper_Dad]

The Donald Harvey Case...The serial killer nurse who claimed to have killed 87 people. His crimes were committed in both Ohio, and Kentucky.

 

Donald Harvey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Not Kentucky but this guy was my neighbor, lived about 150-200 yards from me when he was arrested...Orville Lynn Majors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia estimated to have killed well over 100 people. We even went trick or treating to his house (lived with his parents).

[se7ens]

Here's the Bill Erpenbeck story for those of you who may be unaware - Erpenbeck | Articles | Northern Kentucky Magazine

[Just Jim]

The Murder Of Gallatin Co., Ky. Sheriff

Murder of the Sheriff in Gallatin County in the 50's.. Still unsolved.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Randy Parker

[B-Ball-fan]

Not Kentucky but this guy was my neighbor, lived about 150-200 yards from me when he was arrested...Orville Lynn Majors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia estimated to have killed well over 100 people. We even went trick or treating to his house (lived with his parents).

 

Yikes! :scared:

 

That sure is taking job burnout a bit to the extreme, now isn't it?

 

I guess that it's safe to say that he picked the wrong profession from the get go.

 

...That's pretty freaky too that you went trick or treating there. I'm guessing that his parents weren't the mess that he was, and luckily they were in charge of handing out the candy.

[B-Ball-fan]

In 1981 city commissioner candidate Gary Parrott was convicted of slashing the throat of his girlfriend and killing her to protect his image in the commission race.

 

This happened a block from where I grew up, and my brother was a co-worker at the Post Office of the brother of the murdered girl.

 

He still managed to get about 1500 votes... go figure???

 

He didn't serve all of his 20 year sentence, but got out early and was again arrested for trafficking drugs.

 

As a kid in the 70's I used to buy fireworks from him that he sold from the old closed up Sam's Ice Cream Shop in Covington on Pike St.

 

He was also associated with the guy who blew up an entire neighborhood in Newport in 1981 when the storage of their fireworks exploded.

 

1981 was a big year for Mr. Parrott...

 

1981 - A garage at 938 John Street manufacturing illegal fireworks, exploded without warning leaving severe damage up to a six-block radius.

 

Local - The Enquirer - April 12, 1997

Edited April 23, 2015 by B-Ball-fan

[Jumper_Dad]

Yikes! :scared:

 

That sure is taking job burnout a bit to the extreme, now isn't it?

 

I guess that it's safe to say that he picked the wrong profession from the get go.

 

...That's pretty freaky too that you went trick or treating there. I'm guessing that his parents weren't the mess that he was, and luckily they were in charge of handing out the candy.

 

While he was out of work from nursing but before he was arrested he worked at a flower shop 3 doors down from our house and walked within 30 feet of our house every day!

[B-Ball-fan]

While he was out of work from nursing but before he was arrested he worked at a flower shop 3 doors down from our house and walked within 30 feet of our house every day!

 

That's funny you say that because I was going to say that maybe something like gardening would've been a better fit for someone like him who stresses out too easily. He obviously knew too that he'd be better off with a job like that... well at least until the first customer complains that he didn't arrange their flowers correctly...then all bets are off. :eek:

[Jim Schue]

The Murder Of Gallatin Co., Ky. Sheriff

Murder of the Sheriff in Gallatin County in the 50's.. Still unsolved.

 

That's pretty wild. Grew up there and I never knew all that story.

[Jim Schue]

The story detailed in the book, "A Dark and Bloody Ground"

 

 

A friend of mine from high school's dad was a lawyer on this deal and the main lawyer was a local legend when this all went down.

 

Burns' name has come up a lot in my reading of Ky history/current events-type stuff over the years.